Enough Already: Kennedy Was No Hero

Camelot replay overshadowed real accomplishments, redemption

(NEWSER) - The Kennedy “legacy” is not pretty, precisely because it requires so much media “airbrushing” to stay intact. “One of the many dreadful aspects,” Christopher Hitchens writes for Slate, “is the now-unbreakable grip of celebrity politics, image-doctoring, stage management, and ‘torch passing’ rhetoric in general.” But even the venomous pundit saves his harshest words for Ted Kennedy's hagiographers. More»

(NEWSER) - He wasn't always the most articulate person in one-on-one conversations, but Ted Kennedy gave powerful speeches, writes Gail Russell Chaddock in the Christian Science Monitor. Three that resonate:

• His 1980 concession: “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." Sure, the words came from a speechwriter, but only Kennedy's delivery made it work, says one historian. “You had to listen to it to fully get the impact.”

(NEWSER) - On the weekend of his inauguration, John F. Kennedy gave his youngest brother a cigarette case engraved with the words, “And the last shall be first.” Fifty years later, that prophesy has come true, writes Richard Lacayo of Time. The "long shadow of Chappaquiddick" may have kept Ted Kennedy out of the White House, but "as the Romans understood, there can be Emperors of no consequence—and Senators whose legacies are carved in stone." More»

(NEWSER) - Senate Republicans locked arms against Sonia Sotomayor yesterday … or would have, if they’d bothered to stay for the Judiciary Committee’s vote. Instead, half ducked out, leaving Jeff Sessions to repeat “No by proxy,” over and over, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. It was an ugly display of partisanship—though, as Orrin Hatch pointed out, Democrats started it by opposing justices Roberts and Alito. More»

Nominee gives little insight into her true feelings on controversial issues

(NEWSER) - As Sonia Sotomayor’s question-and-answer session with the Senate Judiciary Committee continues today, the Supreme Court nominee is deploying a familiar strategy, Andrew Cohen writes for CBS News. It's the Rope-a-Dope, much like the one used by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito in their confirmation hearings. Simply put: She’s being evasive, cleverly declining to answer any question that touches controversial issues. More»